Bush's Big Business Buddies: Stealing Iraq's Oil Wealth

In case you missed or forgot it, James Ridgeway reminds us all of one of the major reason why Iraqis want the USA out of Iraq:

Control of Iraq's future oil wealth is being handed to multinational oil companies through long-term contracts that will cost Iraq hundreds of billions of dollars.

Crude Designs: The Rip-Off of Iraq's Oil Wealth reveals that current Iraqi oil policy will allocate the development of at least 64% of Iraq’s reserves to foreign oil companies. Iraq has the world’s third largest oil reserves.

Figures published in the report for the first time show:

• the estimated cost to Iraq over the life of the new oil contracts is $74 to $194 billion, compared with leaving oil development in public hands. These sums represent between two and seven times the current Iraqi state budget.

• the contracts would guarantee massive profits to foreign companies, with rates of return of 42% to 162%.

The kinds of contracts that will provide these returns are known as production sharing agreements (PSAs). PSAs have been heavily promoted by the US government and oil majors and have the backing of senior figures in the Iraqi Oil Ministry. Britain has also encouraged Iraq to open its oilfields to foreign investment.

However PSAs last for 25-40 years, are usually secret and prevent governments from later altering the terms of the contract.

What Bush & Co have done in Iraq is remove a dictator so they can set up a compliant puppet government (dependent of the USA for security, so they can't get too fiesty) which will duly award the Bush cabalists control of Iraq resources, principally oil. Along the way, there is a war to fight and of course the cabalists are awarding themselves all the contracts for that too.

The Western media magnates are all on board and have been for some time: capitalism is good, socialism is bad. Privatisation is good, nationalisation is bad. Right is might, and might is right. Questioning the Strategery for Victory is tantamount to treason. Calling for a withdrawal is tantamount to aiding the terrorists. These messages are subtly but relentlessly drummed into our consciousness, even if they are never logically explained.

Bush is not really the issue here, even if he is at the centre of it all. Bush is a person who .... aaargh! Surely you know the rest by now???